South Korea’s leading mobile provider SK Telecom has become the second-largest shareholder in Malaysian wireless broadband company Packet One Networks (P1). According to a company press release SK Telecom has acquired a 25.8% stake for USD100 million. With its new parent onboard, P1 will seek to secure a million wireless broadband subscribers in Malaysia by the end of 2012, with network coverage of 65% of the population.
According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, in 2009 P1 was forced to revise its ambitious subscriber targets, ending the year with a customer base of just 139,000 compared to the anticipated 160,000. P1 currently has around 35% population coverage with a footprint which includes the Klang Valley, Penang, Ihor, Kuantan and Kuala Terengganu.